Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-05-24
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A.HiStorx, Of :Hd2ehture
By j. RIDER HAaeARD.

At first we werc much puzzled as to TIN
origin and constitution of this extraordinary
race, points upon which they were singularb
uncommmicative. As the time went on-f0l
the next four days passed without any strik
ing event--we learned something from Leo.
lady FRIEND Ustane, who, by the way, stucl
to that young gentleman like his own shadow.
As to origin they had none, at least so far as
she was aware. There were, however, she
informed us, mounds of masonry and many
pillars near the place where She lived, which
was called Kor and which the wise said had
once been houses wherein mon lived, and 1t
was suggested that they were descended from
these men. No ono, however, dared 60 near
these great ruins because they were haunted--
they only looked on them from distance.
Other similar ruins were to be seen, she had
heard, in various parts of tho country-that
is, whenever one Of the mountains rose abov
tho level of the swamp. Also the caves in
which they lived had been followed out Of
the rocks by men, perhaps the same who
had built the cities. They themselves had no
written laws, only custom, which was, how
ever, quite as binding as law. If any man
offended against the custom he was put to
death by order Of the father Of tho "house-
hold" asked how he was put to death and
she only smiled and said that might SEQ one
day soon.
They had queen, however. She was their
queen, but she was very rarely seen, perhaps
once IN two or three years, when she came
forth to pass sentence on some offenders, and
when seen was mufIied up in big cloak so
that nobody could look upon her face. Those
who waited upon her were deaf and dumb,
Al Al
reported thGs she was lovely as no other
woman was lovely, or ever had been. 1t was
rumored also that she was immortal, and had
power over all things, but she, Ustane could
say nothing at all Of that What she be-
lieved was that the queen chose o husband
from time to time, and as soon as female
child was born, this husband. who was never
again seen, was put to death. Then the fe
male child grew up, and took the place of the
queen when its mother died and had been bur-
led in the great caves. But of these matters
none could speak for certain. Only She was
obeyed throughout the length and breadth Of
the land, and to question her command was
certain death. She kept guard, but had no
regular army. and to disobey her was to die.
nsked what the land was, and how many
people lived in It, She answered that there
were ten households" like this that she
knew Of, including the big "household,n
where tho queen was; that oil the "house-
holds" lived in caves, In places like this stretch
of raised country, dotted about In vast ex-
tent Of swamp, which was only to be threaded
by secret paths Often the households"
made war on each other until She sent word
that it was to stop, and then they instantly
ceased. That and the fever which they
caught in crossing the swamps was what kept
their numbers from increasing too much.
They had no connection with any other race;
indeed, none lived near them, or were able to
thread the vast swamps. Once an army from
the direction OF the great river presumably
the ZambesD had attempted to attack them,
but they got lost in the marshes, and at night
seeing the great balls of fire that move about
there, tried to come to them, thinking that Il
was the enemy's camp. and half of them were
drowned. As for tho rest, they soon died Of
fever and starvation, not blow being struck
at them The marshes. she told us, were abso.
lutely impossible except to those who knew tho
paths, adding, what could well believe, that
we should never have reached this place where
We then were had wc not been brought there
These and many other things we learned
from Ustane during the four days pause DO.
fore our real adventures began, and, as may
be imagined, they gave us considerable cause
for thought The whole thing was exceed
ingly remarkable, almost incredibly so, in.
deed, and the oldest part Of it was that so far
it did more or less correspond TO tho ancient
writing on tho sherd. And now It appeared
that there was mysterious queen clothed by
rumor with awful and wonderful attributes,
and commonly known by the impersonal but
TO my mind rather awesome title Of She
Altogether, l could not make 1t out, nor could
Leo, though of course no was exceedingly
triumphant over me because l had persist
emily Knocked at the whole thing. As for
Job, he had long since abandoned any attempt
to call his reason his own, and left it to drift
upon tho sea of circumstance. Mahomed, tho
Arab, who was, by the way, treated civilly,
indeed, but with chilling contempt, by tho
Amahaggar, was, discovered, in great
fright, though could not quite make out
what ne was frightened about. Ho would
sit crouched up in corner of the cave all day
long, calling upon Allah and the Prophet 70
protect him. When pressed him about it,
he said that he was afraid because these peo-
pile woro not men and women at all, but
DEVILS and that this was an enchanted land;
and, upon my word, once or twice since then
have been inclined to agrco with him. And
so the time went on till the night Of the
fourth day after Billali had left, when some.
thing happened
We three and Ustane were sitting round the
fire In the cave just before bed time when
suddenly the woman, who had been brooding
in silence, rose and laid her hands upon Leo's
golden curls and addressed him. Even now
when shut my eyes can see her proud, i'm
perial forid, clothed alternately in dense
shadow and the red Pickering of the fire, as
she stood, the wild center Of as weird scene
as ever witnessed, and delivered herself Of
the burden of her thoughts and forebodingI
in kind of rhythmical speech that ran somo-
thing as follows
Thou art my chosen-I have waited for thee from
the beginningi
Thou art very beautiful. Who hath hair like unto
thee, or skin SO whittier
Who hath 80 strong an armi Who Is SO much O
Thine eyes are the sky, and the light in them Is
the stars.
Thou art perfect and Of happy face, and my
heart turned itself toward thee.
Ay, when mine eyes fell on thee / did desire
thee
Then did l take thee to me--thol my beloved,
thee.
Ay, did cover thine head with mine hair, lest tho
sun should strike IL;
And altogether was l thine, and thou vast alto
gcther mine.
And 80 it went for a little space, till Time was In
labor with an evil Day;
And then what befell upon that dayi Alasl my
beloved, know nUti
But |, saw thee no moro-I, / was lost In tho
blackness.
And she who is stronger did take thee; ny, she
who is fairer than Us.ane.
Vel dldst thou turn and call upon me- and let thine
eyes wander In the darkness.
But, nevcrtheiess, she prevailed by beauty, and
led thee down horrible places;
And then, ahl then. my beloved
Here this extraordinary woman broke of |
her speech or chaut which WINS so much must. |
cal gibberish 10 us, for all we understood OF |
what sho WINS driving at, and seemed TO fix |
her flashing eyes upon the deep shadow DO